Every one knew how laborious
the usual Method is of attaining to Arts and Sciences; whereas by
his Contrivance, the most ignorant Person at a reasonable Charge, and
with a little bodily Labour, may write Books in Philosophy, Poetry,
Politicks, Law, Mathematicks and Theology, without the least Assistance
from Genius or Study.

In 1968, archaeologists digging at
the mound of al-Hiba in Iraq were struck by the fact that the people living in
the surrounding area depended on many of the same resources, and seemed to use
them in the same way, as the people who had lived there in the 3rd millennium
BC. So while archaeological excavations continued, they initiated an
ethnographic study of the modern villages around the mound (Fig. 1). The
ethnoarchaeology project was carried out under my direction and lasted twenty
years. Its goal was to cast light on the use of locally available raw
materials, and on the function and manufacturing technology of the same or
similar artifacts in antiquity.

The materials we focused on were
mud or clay, reeds, wood, cattle, and sheep. We eventually added bitumen–a
natural tarlike hydrocarbon–to the list because it appeared so often in
conjunction with wood, reeds, and mud in the villages, as well as in the
archaeological record. There was abundant evidence that many of the details of
village life had parallels in the archaeological record. We hoped that knowing
how people in the present day made and used the objects they needed for
survival could help us make sense of the isolated bits of archaeological
evidence and weave them into a coherent tapestry of ancient life.

The 2-mile-long mound of al-Hiba
was in antiquity the ancient city-state of Lagash (see map on p. 3). It stood
on the edge of a permanent marsh bordering a tributary of the
Tigris, in southern Iraq, and lay about 75 kilometers north of Ur. Like Ur, Lagash
was a major Sumerian city. It reached its greatest size in the Early Dynastic
III period (2600-2350 BC), at the same time as the Royal Cemetery of Ur was in
use. At that time Lagash was the capital of the Sumerian empire and probably
the largest early Sumerian city.

The early years of the project were
marked by the on-going removal of the sheikhs (local hereditary leaders) by the
central government of Iraq. As a result of the inevitable
disruption in the management of the farmlands, these were times of unbelievable
poverty for the people of al-Hiba. With the draining of the marshlands
initiated in 1992, many thousands of marshland residents moved deeper into the
swamps or fled to Iran. The way of life that we documented, and that I describe
briefly here, no longer exists in the area around al-Hiba.

THE MI'DAN AND THE BENI HASSAN

When the project began, a number of
small villages existed alongside the marshes near the site of
al-Hiba (Fig. 2). Each contained the homes of either the Mi'dan (also called the
Marsh Arabs) or the Beni Hassan. The Mi'dan villages were sometimes built
directly in the marshes on platforms or islands they constructed
of alternate layers of reed mats or reeds and silt.

The Mi'dan made a living by fishing
with spears. They also kept water buffalo, technically undomesticated, which
foraged for reeds and sedge in the marshes during the day and
returned to the family shelter in late afternoon to give up their milk and
spend the night under protection. The Mi'dan kept water buffalo primarily for
milk, dung, and hides. Of the three, dung was the most important for it
provided fuel for warmth and cooking, and was a waterproofing agent, a plaster
for wounds, and a cure for headaches.

The Beni Hassan kept sheep and
cattle and grazed them on the banks of the marsh. They raised
crops of vegetables and animal fodder on plots of land which were sometimes
irrigated. They also fished, but with set or throw nets.

Both tribes kept chickens, caught
wild birds in nets or shot them with guns, and grew rice in small beds on the
edges of the marshes. They moved between settlements by donkey
or camel, or in bitumen-covered wooden boats (tarada) propelled through the
water with long poles (Figs. 3a, b, 4).

MUDHIF AND RABA

The Mi'dan and Beni Hassan built
their houses and attendant structures from the same easily obtainable materials
used to make similar buildings in ancient times–mud and reeds (Figs. 5a, b,
6). In 1968 reeds grew everywhere in the marshes and were
considered the cheapest building material. Because of its size and
architectural splendor, the mudhif, a grand arched structure built entirely of
reeds by sheikhs, would dominate the horizon as one approached a village lucky
enough to preserve one. Justice was no longer dispensed here as it had been in
the historical past, but issues were debated and consensus reached on local
issues by the heads of families with or without the sheikh being present. The
mudhif also still served as a guest house for the occasional traveler. (For
details of reed construction, see Ochsenschlager 1992:47-58.)

Except in the fortified compounds
of major sheikhs (who built with baked bricks as well), mud-brick structures
were very rare, for they required the services of professional builders and
were quite expensive. Family members could build pise (compressed or packed
mud) houses without any assistance, however, and a small number of these
existed in every village, where they were a status symbol indicating
above-average material resources. The raba (Fig. 1) was an arched reed
structure smaller than the mudhif, while a one-room dwelling called a bayt was
made of reeds, mud brick, or pise. Most of the village houses were made of
reeds. The typical house was usually a little more than 2 meters wide, about 6
meters long, and a little less than 3 meters high. Houses built of reeds had
the additional advantage of being portable. In the spring, if the marsh
waters rose too high, a five-arched raba could be taken down, moved to higher
ground, and re-erected in less than a day. With proper care and repair, reed
dwellings could last for well over 25 years, and mud dwellings for two or more
generations.

The raba had an entrance at both
ends with a partition (bench or screen) in the middle. One end was used as a
dwelling, the other end could be used to house animals in inclement weather, as
a part of the dwelling, or as a workshop if either the wife or husband were
craftspeople.

In villages where no mudhif
existed, the second room of the largest raba often served the same purposes: as
a meeting place and guest house. None of these uses were mutually exclusive; a
thorough cleaning followed by laying reed mats over the dirt floor and placing
colorful carpets for people to sit on quickly converted a workshop or barn into
a reception room.

FENCES, WALLS, AND BARNS

To protect the family's water
buffalo during the inclement weather of late winter and early spring, a Mi'dan
household built an adjoining sitra, another type of reed structure. Rows of tall
reeds were buried in the ground with their tops tied together to form a sort of
roof. Holes or trenches were dug around the interior of the wall to keep the
buffalo at bay and protect the comparatively fragile structure. These
structures had a particularly shaggy appearance since neither the reed leaves
nor plumed tops were removed. At the end of winter the sitra was often
dismantled and used as fuel.

Livestock pens were built of tall
reed fences and used by the Mi'dan for their water buffalo and sometimes by the
Beni Hassan for their cattle and sheep. As such a fence was called a sitra, it
is not surprising to find that its method of construction was the same as for
the building of that name. The sole difference is that the reed walls were left
upright, perpendicular to the ground, rather than bent inward and joined to
form a roof (Fig. 6).

Most Beni Hassan made their walls
of mud lumps or of pise. When the structure was situated alongside a canal or
irrigation channel, it was made of lumps of mud set on edge in herring-bone
pattern. Each lump consisted of a shovelful of mud, and its plano-convex shape,
which resulted from the form of the shovel paddle, was almost identical to the
shape of mud bricks used in ancient Sumerian times. Whenever possible, this was
the kind of wall a villager preferred to build and maintain for it was much
simpler and less time-consuming than erecting a wall of pise or reed.

INSIDE THE RABA

Houses were divided in two
different ways. A reed mat tied to a reed frame could be fastened to the sides
and top of one of the arches. If both rooms were intended for living, the
partition had a doorway or opening. Such partitions, however, were most often
used without doors for separating living space from animal quarters. Living
spaces were usually subdivided by a wide bench made of a tied reed framework
and reed bundle top which jutted into the room from one of the long walls.

A chest made of wood, usually
studded with iron or brass and with a domed lid, was placed on the women's or
kitchen side of the bench. Towards the center of the women's side was a
permanent place for the cooking fire. Mud bricks or narrow walls of pise
supported the vessels used for cooking or heating. The coffee pot (aluminum or
brass) and tea kettle (aluminum) stood in close proximity, as did a variety of
aluminum containers including a large, deep tray used for washing up and
mixing, and one or two large bowls used for mixing, cooking, and sometimes
serving. Conical bowls of various sizes made of aluminum, porcelain, or even
plastic were also stored nearby. These were used for drinking water and for
serving food. Those with bright, multicolored decorations, bought in market
towns, were much sought after. To one side were the useful sundried mud objects
made in every household. An aluminum or brass water jar or perhaps an old tea
kettle stood near the door filled with water. This was carried by members of
the family answering the call of nature and provided the water necessary for a
thorough washing. If water was not available, one scrubbed oneself with sand.

Also near the door were the baskets
used for collecting fresh animal dung, a job allotted to the youngest girls in
the family. Women mixed the fresh dung with straw and molded it into disks to
serve as the primary fuel for cooking and keeping warm. Along one side of the
kitchen space was a shallow well dug in the floor and lined with bitumen in
which sat two jars of similar shape and size: a water jar with drinking water
and a jar for salt. These were made from coils of local clays by the village
potter, and fired in a trench.

Near the bench, or perhaps even
under it, were homemade baskets (either plaited or coiled) with staples such as
wheat, rice, or dried fish, and perhaps a narrow-necked basket (sabat) with a
variety of small packages of tea, coffee, and spices (Fig. 7). The latter three
items might also be kept in the chest along with clothes, raw wool or wool spun
into thread or yarn by family members, special amulets, jewelry, and money.

Some of these things were simply
piled on the bench when not in use, as were woven bedclothes and pillows,
carpets, paddles and poles for the boats used in the marshes,
handmade fish and bird nets, agricultural or craft tools, and other family
possessions.

The bench was seldom used as a
sleeping platform at night except for the sick. Beds for small children were
often made of piles of rushes with soft bedclothes on top. Swinging cradles for
babies were made out of rushes and hung from an arch. A simple well was made in
a bundle of rushes tied at both ends, and was lined with clothes, a sheepskin,
or raw wool. Rattles made from sun-dried mud by fathers to amuse their babies
were often inscribed with a simple smiling face, representing the child.

The other end of the raba was more
sparsely furnished. When used exclusively as a part of the dwelling it
contained a permanent hearth, otherwise a portable cooking dish (manqala) was
used as needed. Reed mats made by the women of the household covered the mud
floor for living or guests. When guests were present the mats were covered with
carpets made by the village weaver and pillows made by one of the women of the
household. Even in Mi'dan houses without provision for livestock, water buffalo
shared the quarters at special times, such as in the case of a birthing cow or
a young calf whose mother had gone into the marshes to graze.
When water buffalo or other livestock were quartered in the living space, the
mats were removed. Oftentimes the owner booby-trapped both entrances to the raba
at night to keep out intruders.

THE COURTYARD

Most of the year, the courtyard
outside the raba was a hive of activity. Women prepared most of the food here.
They cooked wheat bread disks on the insides of tanurs (mud beehive ovens; see
Fig. 1) where the raw dough was pasted on with a bit of water or spit. Rice
bread and small cakes were cooked on a flat disk of mud whose surface was
heated in a fire. Meat and fish were baked or smoked in the tanur or boiled
over a hearth and, on special occasions, roasted on spits over an open fire.

The courtyard is where women made
dung patties and where young children made and played with their toys of mud
and reed (Fig. 8a, b), and older boys made balls of sun-dried mud to use for
ammunition in their slings (Fig. 9). The courtyard is where older girls
embroidered the blankets which would be part of their wedding trousseaux and
where men and women alike spun cord (Fig. 10). It is where the oldest woman in
the family made containers of sun-dried mud when needed. All families had
storage jars or chests made of reeds and mud and waterproofed with dung. People
slept outside in the courtyard in the extreme heat of summer. The outside beds
consisted of reeds placed on top of parallel walls of mud from 40 cm to 1 meter
in height (Fig. 11a, b).

CONCLUSION

Arched reed houses and buildings of
mud brick and pise are well attested in the archaeological record. We can
conclude that in antiquity they were built in a very similar fashion to the way
they have been built in modern times, in part because of the nature of the raw
materials and in part because of direct evidence of manufacture from ancient
strata (Ochsenschlager 1992: 54-61). Some of the forms of sun-dried mud pottery
are attested in Sumerian times by finds from al-Hiba. Preserved details of
construction show that they were made in the same way as modern examples. Mud
storage containers, jars, tanurs, ammunition for slings, and children's toys
are widely known in antiquity from many sites. Ancient models of beds, perhaps
made as toys, show the same raw materials used in the same fashion as the beds
in modern courtyards (see Fig. 11b). (See Ochsenschlager 1974a for a discussion
of all these parallels.) Impressions of ancient reed baskets and mats exhibit
the same techniques of construction as do modern ones (Ochsenschlager
1992:64-66). Models of ancient boats (see Fig. 3b) show that they were very
similar to modern ones and built of the same materials (Ochsenschlager
1992:49-53).

Even without corroborating
evidence, some ancient parallels with modern functions can be assumed. Although
the materials did not exist in antiquity, some modern aluminum, tin, plastic,
and porcelain containers probably have generally the same functions as the
pottery of antiquity. The physical requirements of animals would lead us to
believe that ancient animal husbandry had much in common with the modern
(Ochsenschlager 1993a:33-42). In some cases, for instance in weaving, we can
restore parts of the process and artifacts missing in the archaeological record
(Ochsenschlager 1993b:54-55). Through knowledge of the process involved in the
manufacture of an artifact we can estimate the actual value of that artifact to
the people who made and used it by measuring the skill and time required for
its production (Ochsenschlager 1998:129).

Other details of life in Sumerian
times can be inferred from ethnographic information. We can understand and
better appreciate, for example, the degree of coordination and skill required
for everyday activities in ancient times because both ancient and modem peoples
used similar artifacts for similar purposes. Indeed, the physical and mental
energy expended by young men in mastering the throw-net, spear, and sling is
akin to effort put forth by first-class athletes today. Like modern Iraqi
villagers who, at the age of eight or younger, have jobs which are important to
the survival of their families, Sumerian children were probably productive
members of their society. In modern Western society where we appear to think
that work deprives children of their "childhood," and there is little
work that children can profitably do, children tend to live, by contrast, an
undemanding parasitic existence, often to rather advanced ages.

More speculative, perhaps, are such
things as the role of individuals or groups of people. For instance, Iraqi
villagers and ancient Sumerian craftsmen dealt in raw materials and artifacts
which were crucial to the survival of the entire community (unlike many modern
craftsmen who make decorative accessories and think of themselves as artists).
It is possible therefore that the two Middle Eastern groups may have enjoyed
similar respect and played similar roles in preserving traditional morality and
work ethics (Ochsenschlager 1998:130-33).

The findings of the
ethnoarchaeological project were extremely helpful in interpreting the context
of material remains and giving us some insight into everyday life at the site
of ancient al-Hiba. But the acute and careful observation of the way of life of
the Mi'dan and Beni Hassan also served to muddy the waters of archaeological
interpretation. It brought home the complexity of behavioral and cultural
choices and their impacts in ways that would be almost impossible to decipher
from the archaeological record alone. Indeed, it soon became clear in the
ethnographic study that one could not even easily understand the reasons for
modern change unless one were present and privy to the conversations concerning
it immediately before and during the process of the change itself. Shortly
after change occurred the reasons for it often disappeared as part of a new
mythology. Sometimes highly visible change is of little cultural significance,
while major cultural change is accompanied by little or no change in the
material record. Thus, these studies also serve to remind us that our knowledge
of the past sometimes relies on shaky interpretations and cavalier assumptions,
and show us that it is altogether too easy to misunderstand the significance of
physical evidence (Ochsenschlager 1998).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The excavations at al-Hiba were
conducted under the auspices of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the
Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, and directed by Vaughn E.
Crawford and Donald P. Hansen. Preliminary reports on the excavations can be
found in the bibliography under their names and in the article authored by
Robert Biggs.

FIG. 1. THE COURTYARD OUTSIDE A RABA, a dwelling constructed of reeds,
in the Mi'dan village of Said Tahir. The two women, each garbed in an abaya (a
long cloak which covers a person from head to foot), stand behind beehive mud
ovens and an oil drum used as a table.

FIG. 2. THE BENI HAS SAN VILLAGE of Hagi Rachid was home to about 60
people. Beyond the village stretch their small farm plots.

FIG. 3A. MI'DAN FISHING FROM A TARADA. Wood is too costly, scarce, and
poor in quality to make waterproof joins on ordinary boats. Applying bitumen to
the outer surface waterproofs the boat and allows the boat builder to utilize
whatever scraps of material are available for shipbuilding. Each year itinerant
craftsmen visit the villages to strip the bitumen from boats, heat it to liquid
consistency, and reapply the coating.; FIG. 3B. MODEL OF A SIMILAR BOAT FROM
UR. Boats were as important for the transportation of people and goods in
antiquity as they are now. The boat model from Ur is entirely made of bitumen.
The shape of its upswung prow mirrors that of the tarada. UPM B 17706. Neg.
S8-96719

FIG. 4. THE MI'DAN HAD ALWAYS FISHED WITH SPEARS, "THE MANLY
WAY." During the 1970s, however, the Beni Hassan began to catch larger
quantities of fish in nets. The solution for the Mi'dan is shown in this photo:
they trapped fish in nets but harvested them with their spears.

FIG. 5A. MUDHIF UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Reeds had the same physical
properties in the past as they do today, requiring similar innovations for
structural soundness. For instance, if arches were made from bundles of fresh
reeds, the structure would collapse in short order. For maximum soundness the
core of a new arch bundle was made up of reeds taken from an older structure.
From studying the physical properties of reeds used today, we have learned a
great deal about the details of their use in the past.

FIG. 5B. CARVED GYPSUM TROUGH FROM URUK. Two lambs exit a reed structure
identical to the present-day mudhif on this ceremonial trough from the site of
Uruk in southern Iraq. Neither the leaves or plumes have been
removed from the reeds which are tied together to form the arch. As a result,
the crossed-over, leathered reeds create a decorative pattern along the length
of the roof, a style most often seen in modern animal shelters built by the
Mi'dan. Dating to ca. 3000 BC, the trough documents the extraordinary length of
time such arched reed buildings have been in use. (C) The British Museum. WA
120000, neg. 252077

FIG. 6. A SHAGGY REED ENCLOSURE CALLED A SITRA serves as a pen for water
buffalo. The small reed hut within the fence is seen end-on and looks similar
to the structure on the Uruk trough but without the plumed top (Fig. 5b).

FIG. 7. MANUFACTURING A REED BASKET. Reed baskets such as that being
made here were probably woven in antiquity in exactly the same way.

FIG. 8A, B. (A) CHILD PLAYING WITH CLAY ANIMAL FIGURINES. Children make
toys of all kinds out of sun-dried mud; men and boys also make rattles,
whistles, drums, and watering troughs for livestock from the same material.

(B) PROCESSION OF ANIMAL FIGURINES FROM UR. In the past most of the
figurines like those in (b) were thought to be votive objects. Today we think
some of them are toys made by children long ago. (b) UPM B 17236, B 17239,
31-43-351. Neg. S8-8611

FIG. 9. A MI'DAN BOY MAKES SHOT FOR HIS SLING. Ammunition made of balls
of mud dried in the sun was used in antiquity and in modern times. Huge
quantifies of ancient examples outside a wall at al-Hiba record an ancient
battle. Modern mud sling shots are used mostly by boys for hunting small
animals and birds. Using a sling accurately is no small accomplishment. It
requires a physical stamina and coordination of muscle and eye similar to that
of American high school athletes. The difference is that in America in the
1970s failure resulted in embarrassment. In the marshes it
could result in starvation.

FIG. 10. A BENI HASSAN MAN SPINS THREAD USING A SPINDLE AND RAW WOOL.
Men use the "drop and spin" method to create Z-spun thread, women rub
the spindle on their thighs to create S-spun thread. Men create yarn by rubbing
the threads together between the palms of their hands, while women use larger
spindles which they rub on their thighs. The spinning of animal fibers into
thread and yarn is attested in ancient times at al-Hiba (and Ur) by spindle
whorls, impressions of cloth, and two- and four-ply yarn found on jar sealings.
Although spindles for making thread and yarn have not survived, one can infer
their existence from the clay whorls that served to provide the weight.

FIG. 11A. BED IN AN OUTSIDE COURTYARD AT AL-HIBA. Bundles of reeds laid
on low walls of mud and covered with reed mats provide safe places to sleep
during the hottest weather. The raised beds share the courtyard with domestic
animals and protect the sleepers against cattle, sheep, chickens,
creepy-crawlers, and other things which go bump in the night.

FIG. 11B. TERRACOTTA BED MODELS FROM UR. Hundreds of these bed models
have been found in ancient strata and some of them may well have been
children's toys. Note that the top surfaces of the models have been sculpted to
represent woven reed mats. UPM 31-43-361 (left and center), 31-16-701. Negs.
S4-74059, S8-8637